This invention concerns modular plastic conveyor belts, and more specifically the invention encompasses such conveyor belts divided into longitudinally extending lanes, as for organization of conveyed items by orientation or simply by lanes to aid in inspection, sorting or packing, or for cooling of items which lie on ridges dividing the lanes.
Lane-divided conveyor belts are known, including in the to modular plastic belt field. Prior belts have been divided into transverse product carrying channels as well as into longitudinal lanes. As one example, Falcon Belting produces CC40 series belts, with accessories, to provide for transverse channels and/or longitudinal channels. The longitudinal channels are provided on what is essentially a solid top belt, with intermittent studs (extending upwardly. The transverse channels are formed by "cleats" integral with solid top belt modules; the cleats are not continuous laterally.
As another example, Intralox markets a Series 600 multilane belt which is essentially a flat topped open belt formed of spaced longitudinally extending members, but with series of hollow top segments on the top surface of the belt, in a series of parallel longitudinal rows, forming lane dividing ridges. The link ends themselves of the belt modules do not contribute to the shape of the longitudinal lanes. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,966 showing a form of this belt.
Lane-divided belts are used for a variety of different purposes and in several different industries. Virtually anything can be delivered off the end of a lane-divided belt into a desired orientation in packaging which is properly positioned at the end of the belt run. Lane-divided belts are sometimes used with automatic inspection equipment, with automatic ejection (as by air jets) of non-conforming inspected pieces at the end of a belt run. Lane-divided belts can orient elongated articles into a desired longitudinal orientation when the items are dropped onto the belt by automated equipment. They can also be used for cooling items conveyed on the tops of the lane-dividing ridges.
It is among the objects of the invention described below to provide simplified, improved lane-divided modular plastic conveyor belts, for longitudinal or transverse lanes or channels, wherein the structure forming the shape of the lanes or troughs actually overlaps from module to module, with essentially continuous ridges between adjacent lanes.